India: 13 workers sentenced to life imprisonment for violence at Maruti's plant in Manesar

On 18 July 2012, workers had a heated exchange with their supervisor over hiring of low-paid temporary employees. The argument soon turned bloody. Awanish Kumar Dev, general manager (HR), lost his life when the protesting workers allegedly set a factory floor on fire. They were charged with conspiracy to commit murder, arson and rioting. A total of 148 workers weren arrested. On March 18, 117 of the 148 who had been arrested were acquitted. Of the remaining 31 workers, 13 were sentenced to life imprisonment, four received five-year terms and the remaining 14 were deemed to have served sufficient time before having been granted bail.

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For the Maruti Suzuki workers who have been languishing in jail for over a year now and their families, it is going to be another black Deepavali…All the 147 workers incarcerated in Bhondsi Jail have been charged with murder, attempted murder, criminal conspiracy, destruction of property and several other offences in the Indian Penal Code (IPC)…There were conditions like restricting the number of times a worker could go to the restroom, fixed timings for lunch irrespective of the fact that there would be a long queue in the canteen, conditional incentives and, most importantly, insulting behaviour by supervisors, and so on. In fact, the trigger for the events on July 18 that led to the death of a manager was the insulting behaviour of a supervisor towards a worker.

A Gurugram court on Friday convicted 31 workers in connection with violence that broke out at Maruti Suzuki India Ltd’s plant in Manesar, Haryana, in 2012. The 31 were among 148 workers accused of rioting, conspiracy to commit murder and arson at the plant in Manesar, located in the district of Gurugram...Lawyer Rebecca John, who represented the workers, confirmed that 117 of the 148 accused had been acquitted of all charges. She said that with three-fourths of the accused acquitted, the ruling means that the...substratum of the case had fallen through...it shows that Maruti factory and the Gurgaon police were involved in large-scale manipulation and fabrication of evidence...she added....An email sent to Maruti remained unanswered at the time of going to the press. Lawyers for Maruti did not respond to calls.

A Gurugram court on Friday convicted 31 workers in connection with violence that broke out at Maruti Suzuki India Ltd’s plant in Manesar, Haryana, in 2012. The 31 were among 148 workers accused of rioting, conspiracy to commit murder and arson at the plant in Manesar, located in the district of Gurugram...Lawyer Rebecca John, who represented the workers, confirmed that 117 of the 148 accused had been acquitted of all charges. She said that with three-fourths of the accused acquitted, the ruling means that the...substratum of the case had fallen through...it shows that Maruti factory and the Gurgaon police were involved in large-scale manipulation and fabrication of evidence...she added....An email sent to Maruti remained unanswered at the time of going to the press. Lawyers for Maruti did not respond to calls.

A local court in Gurgaon sentenced 13 people to life imprisonment...in connection with the murder of a Maruti Suzuki manager, who was killed after violence and rioting at India’s largest carmaker’s plant in Manesar in 2012...Four other accused were given 5-year imprisonment and most of them have already served about 4 years in the jail. Fourteen more accused of rioting would be fined and released...Eighteen others were convicted under various sections for voluntary causing hurt (323), destruction of property (427), rioting (147 IPC) and rioting armed with deadly weapons (148 IPC) and other sections of Indian Penal Code (IPC). The defence lawyers said they would challenge the sentence in the Punjab and Haryana high court.

On 10th March, 2017 the Gurgaon sessions court acquitted 117 workers and convicted 31 workers in the sensational Maruti Suzuki riots case, including all the main office bearers of the Maruti Suzuki Workers Union. The quantum of punishment differs: 13 workers were sentenced to life imprisonment, 4 were given 5 years imprisonment and the remaining 14 were let off with what they had already served. With the trial coming to an end after nearly 5 years, this is as good a time as any to take a look back on the critical moments that have marked this case and the lives of the 148 arrested workers – most of whom spent over three long years in jail, even as their lives fell apart around them.

Workers not happy with recent sentencing, demand judicial probe. Nearly five years after a deadly riot rocked Maruti Suzuki India's Manesar plant, convictions in a long-running court case were finally handed down earlier this month. A total of 148 workers had been arrested after the uprising took place, most of whom had been released on bail after sitting in jail for three to four years. On March 18, 117 of the 148 who had been arrested were acquitted. Of the remaining 31 workers, 13 were sentenced to life imprisonment, four received five-year terms and the remaining 14 were deemed to have served sufficient time before having been granted bail.

...[H]undreds of workers of automobile manufacturing factories in Manesar...staged a demonstration. It was a show of solidarity with 13 former workers of Maruti Suzuki India Limited who were handed life sentences...for the death of a manager during rioting at the plant in 2012. Permanent and contract workers (employed on seven-month contracts) of Maruti Suzuki and Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India Private Limited – which operate the two largest automobile plants in Manesar – joined the demonstration and public meeting, as did workers from over 20 vendor companies that supply automobile parts to both companies. Hours after the sentencing in a Gurgaon court, the Maruti Suzuki Workers Union, too, had organised a one-hour “tool down” protest at all four of the company’s plants and at two others owned by vendor companies. They have planned a national protest on April 4...[workers] described the events of 2011-’12 and the court verdict as the continuation of an industry-worker tussle that has been going on at Manesar for years.

Workers in the port and industrial areas of Colombo, Sri Lanka’s capital city, expressed enthusiastic support for the global campaign initiated by the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI) to free the framed-up Maruti Suzuki workers in the northern Indian state of Haryana...The ICFI has launched an online petition and is calling upon workers and youth worldwide to fight for the immediate release of the Maruti Suzuki workers. A campaign team of the Socialist Equality Party (SEP) and the International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE) spoke with Colombo port and industrial workers in recent days and visited a working-class neighbourhood in the city. They distributed the ICFI statement “Free the framed-up Maruti Suzuki workers” in Sinhalese and Tamil.

The 117 acquitted workers from Maruti Violence 2012 case have repeated the demand of reinstating them. The worker unions held a protest in Gurgaon and submitted a memorandum of their demands to the district administration...Around 546 workers were terminated after the violence and death of general manager HR Awanish Kumar Dev in July 2012. Out of these, 148 workers were in jail till March 10 i.e. till the day when 117 workers were acquitted and 31 were convicted. Notably, the company sacked 546 workers after the violence, despite SIT naming only 214 of them in its report. The workers claimed that around 18 workers were issued joining letters by the company when the company was reopened in August 2012. But at that time they were in jail till they were acquitted and 31 were convicted. Notably, the company sacked 546 workers after the violence, despite SIT naming only 214 of them in its report. The workers claimed that around 18 workers were issued joining letters by the company when the company was reopened in August 2012. But at that time they were in jail till they were acquitted two months ago. However, now they too are among those are not reinstated.

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